Drone technology startup Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) has raised an undisclosed amount from GrowX Ventures, 500 Startups, and others in a pre-Series A round. Its existing investors including 3one4 Capital, StartupXseed and angel investor Sanjay Jesrani also participated in the round.
The proceeds will be used to expand its outreach and development purposes.
Founded in 2013 by Vipul Singh, Suhas Banshiwala, Nikhil Upadhye and Yeshwanth Reddy, AUS provides cost-effective drone-based land surveying, mapping both in industrial and agricultural space.
Initially incubated at SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre at IIT- Kanpur, AUS also provides solutions to the mining, urban planning, roads and railway sectors.
The Bengaluru-based platform which claims to have seen 6x increase in its revenue from last year hopes to increase its presence in the energy sector and expand its overseas reach by 2019.
The company is said to be the first one who introduced first indigenous PPK-enabled drone “INSIGHT-PPK “in the country, which is more accurate and two times faster than most commonly used solutions available in the market.
According to MarketsandMarkets research report, the global drone market is expected to reach $48.88 billion by 2023.
Also Read: Drone startups in country seek changes in policy drafted by govt
Meanwhile, many drone startups in India had suggested changes to the government’s proposed draft regulations.
As per the proposed set of regulations, there is a key demand to raise the bar on weight to at least 4 kgs and height restriction to at least 400 feet. Almost in all other countries, which have framed regulations for drones, drones are allowed to fly up to 400 feet for commercial applications.
Another issue raised by the startups is to take ATC (Air Traffic Control) approval, however, there is no clarity on how to go about the registration of drones since every drone needs to have a Unique Identification Number.
In December, Delhi-based drone startup WeDoSky had raised its first round of investment from Mumbai Angels Network.
The funding news was first reported by VCCircle.
